Toy building element with elements for providing positional information

ABSTRACT

A toy construction set may utilize blocks with electrical connections, this block receives electrical power, outputs energy in the electromagnetic spectrum, receives reflected energy and outputs a result to be utilized elsewhere in the toy assembly. Though it has connectors to attach it to other like blocks, it has a bearing shaft to enable an anemometer (FIG. 5) or a tachometer. It may sense bar codes and enable an assembled vehicle to accept trackway commands.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention concerns a toy building set with elements for providingpositional information by detection of radiated, reflected energy, suchas light.

Associated toy elements are known in the form of a light source and alight detector, respectively, said light detector being adapted todetect the light transmitted from the light source. This prior artprovides an information signal by insertion of light absorbing means inthe path of the light beam.

The object of the invention is to provide a toy building set withimproved means with respect to the prior art for providing positionalinformation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This object is achieved in that the toy building set comprises anelement of the type defined in the characterizing portion of claim 1.Thus, the invention comprises the use of an integrated electric circuitknown per se which both contains a source and a detector, preferably forlight, and the special advantages of the invention are obtained by usinga detector of this type in a housing which is partly connectible withother elements belonging to the building set and is partly adapted forcoupling with various forms of energy reflecting means. Preferably, thecircuit is of the type where the transmitted light intensity isautomatically increased if the received light signal weakens, whichentails that it is sufficient with two leads to the circuit as thecircuit will draw a supply current which is dependent upon the lightreflection conditions (see e.g. Electronic Design, March 1982, p. 255).It is observed that the energy radiating source and energy receivingdetector defined in claim 1 were stated as being a light source and alight receiver above, which is a preferred embodiment and does notprevent the use of something else than ordinary light, such asmicrowaves.

Claim 2 provides an example of an energy reflecting means forcooperation with the building element of claim 1. The disc may e.g. be atachometer disc as stated in claim 3. As stated in claim 4, the disc maybe provided with wind cups and thus serve as an anemometer.

Claim 5 provides another example of an energy reflecting means in theform of a light conductor which may be coupled mechanically with thebuilding element, so that the region sensitive to detection may be movedaway from the immediate vicinity of the building element.

Claim 6 provides another expedient element for the building set of theinvention, said element comprising a line code for cooperation with thelight detecting element, either directly or indirectly via lightconducting means for the type mentioned in claim 4.

The light source may be laser, cf. claim 7, thus making it possible toperform a highly sensitive detection. For example, the oscillations of amembrane can be registered by means of coherent light, and in particularin such a detection it is important that the structure is mechanicallystable and geometrically well-defined. When coherent light is used, thevariations in the reflective power of the energy reflecting means may beobtained as stated in claim 8.

The mentioned examples, which will be described more fully later,indicate various situations where special advantages are obtained bypositioning both the light source and the light receiver in a housinghaving mechanical coupling means, which involve pre-determinedpositioning of both the transmitter and the receiver with respect toother energy reflecting building elements of the toy building set.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be explained more fully by the following descriptionof some embodiments with reference to the drawing, in which

FIG. 1 shows a known element from a toy building set,

FIGS. 2 and 3 schematically show the essential parts of an embodiment ofthe toy building set of the invention,

FIGS. 4-7 show various embodiments of energy reflecting means,

FIG. 8 schematically shows a use of the toy building set of theinvention,

FIG. 9 schematically shows another use of the toy building set of theinvention,

FIGS. 10-12 show in more detail an embodiment of the building, set, seenfrom below, from the side and from the top, respectively, while

FIG. 13 is a section along the line XI--XI in FIG. 11.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows a known building element comprising a hollow body 1 havingon its upper side a plurality of coupling studs 2 and on its undersidecomplementary coupling means for connection with the coupling studs onan adjacent element (cf. FIG. 10). The embodiments of the buildingelement of the invention described below are adapted to cooperate withthe building element in FIG. 1, but it will be appreciated that thebuilding element of the invention may be arranged to cooperate withother known forms of interconnectible toy elements.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show the main components of an embodiment of the buildingelement of the invention. Thus, FIG. 2 shows a hollow box 3 having fourcoupling studs 2 on its upper side, two of the coupling studs from FIG.1 being replaced by a pair of through holes 4 for reception of anelectric plug for providing power to the building element of the presentinvention. Further the housing 3 has two holes, partly a large hole 5and a small hole 6. FIG. 3 shows an insert generally designated by 7 andcomprising a plate 8 whose base is formed with the complementarycoupling means mentioned in connection with FIG. 1 (see also FIGS. 10and 13). The plate 8 is contiguous partly with a bushing 9 and a holder10 adapted to retain an electric circuit board 11, which, in addition toelectronic circuits, comprises a combined light source and lightdetector 12 as well as two electric coupling bushings 13 for cooperationwith the plug pins which can extend through the holes 4 in FIG. 2.

It will be appreciated that the insert 7 may be received in the housing3 so that the through hole in the bushing 9 is flush with the hole 5(and an aligned hole in the opposite side of the housing 3), and so thatthe light element 12 is flush with the hole 6.

The bushing 9 is adapted to serve as a bearing for a shaft 14 with adisc 15, which is provided with reflecting and non-reflecting sections,respectively, preferably on both sides. Thus, the disc 15 may serve as atachometer disc so that the rotary speed of the shaft 14 can be detectedby means of the light element 12. The element may serve as an ordinaryswitch by rotation of the disc between two positions in which thereflection properties differ. As shown in FIG. 5, the disc 15 may alsobe provided with wind cups 16 so that the disc and the cups incombination serve as an anemometer.

FIG. 6 shows another element for the building set of the invention, saidelement consisting of a light conductor rod 17, whose one end 18 isadapted to be received and retained in the hole 6 (FIG. 2). In FIG. 6,the light conductor rod 17 is shown in connection with a liquid vessel19, the reflection conditions at the other end of the light conductorrod being highly dependent upon whether the liquid surrounds the end ofthe light conductor or is present at a lower level. The liquid level inthe vessel 19 may thus be detected by means of the building element ofthe invention.

FIG. 7 shows an additional reflecting building element for the buildingset of the invention. The building element in FIG. 7 consists of anelement corresponding to FIG. 1, but with line codes 20 on one side ofthe element. An example of the use of the latter element isschematically shown in FIG. 8, which shows an oblong beam 21 on whichthree elements 22-24 of the type shown in FIG. 7 are placed. Further,two elements of the invention 25 and 26 are shown, which are opticallycoupled to the line codes on the blocks 22-24 via light conductor cables27 and 28, respectively, the optical cables being secured by respectiveholders 29 and 30, respectively. It is noted that, as previouslymentioned, the line codes might consist of depressions in the element iflaser light means are used.

The building elements shown in FIG. 8 might conceivably be incorporatede.g. in a model of a car with automatic steering gear comprising thebeam 21. The beam 21 may thus be movable in its longitudinal directionwith respect to the chassis of the car, while the holders 29 and 30 arestationary with respect to the chassis. The detector elements 25 and 26may be placed on a stationary or on a movable part of the car because ofthe flexible light conductor cables 27 and 28. It will thus beappreciated that, through the electric information from the detectorelements 25 and 26, positional information may be generated for thesteering gear by scanning the line codes present on the buildingelements 22-24. It will be sufficient with a single detector element 25which may be connected to a control computer coded to interpret the linecode information, but the information may be made more selective byusing several detector elements 25, 26. The associated computer mayoptionally be coded to respond to a pre-determined code pattern, and bymechanically changing the shown line code elements 22-24 or by changingthe position of the elements various control characteristics for theconstructed model may be provided with the predetermined interpretationin the computer.

FIG. 9 shows another use of the building set of the invention, and thisuse may be related to the steering gear for a car model as explained inconnection with FIG. 8. The element 31 represents the detector elementdescribed previously which is turned so that the light is transmitteddownwardly toward a path 32 provided on a line and consisting of a solidline and a broken line closely spaced from each other. Since the element31 is firmly mounted on the car, it may be detected by means ofgenerally known electronic equipment how the vehicle is positioned withrespect to the path 32 on the lane. This information may be used forgenerating a steering signal to the steering gear, which may be designedas explained in connection with FIG. 8. The code lines 33 across thedirection of travel may be placed in order for the steering system toreceive information on how far the car as reached along the distancedetermined by the path 32. Optionally, the code lines 33 may also informthe steering system to steer along another path 34.

It has almost been presupposed in the above explanations that digitalsignals are generated from the detector element. However, it should benoted that nothing prevents detection of an analog signal, since this isjust a matter of the design of the electric circuit detecting thecurrent consumption of the light source.

FIGS. 10-13 show some other representations of an embodiment of thedetector element of the invention, the figures showing an element seenfrom below, from the side, from above and in section along the lineXI--XI in FIG. 11, respectively. The reference numerals used inconnection with FIGS. 2 and 3 are also used in FIGS. 10-13, and it willthus be seen from FIG. 10 that the base of the plate 8 is provided witha pair of coupling tubes 35, 36 which constitute the previouslymentioned complementary coupling means for coupling studs on an adjacentalement. FIG. 13 shows some details for the position of the insert 7 inthe housing 3, it being seen how the bushing 9 at the top engages somestops within the housing 3. It will be appreciated that the shownembodiment just serves as an example.

We claim:
 1. A toy building set with elements featuring projections onone surface engageable with apertures on a surface of another element;atleast one element for providing positional information by detection ofreflected energy, such as light, said one element including both anenergy radiating source and an energy receiving detector and includingat least one of said projections on one surface and said apertures onanother surface which provide means for mechanically coupling said oneelement with other elements belonging to the building set, a power inputmeans for driving said energy radiating source and a signal output meansas a conduit for a signal from said energy receiving detector; energyreflecting means; and, means for operatively coupling said one elementwith said energy reflecting means.
 2. A toy building set according toclaim 1 wherein energy radiating from said source is directional and,characterized by comprising as said energy reflecting means a disc whichis journaled transversely to a shaft, said first building element havinga through hole to receive the shaft and support the shaft in a directionsubstantially parallel with the direction at which energy radiates fromthe source.
 3. A toy building set according to claim 2, characterized inthat the disc, as seen along a circle around the shaft, has changingreflection properties.
 4. A toy building set according to claim 3,characterized in that the disc is provided with radially outwardlyextending wind cups.
 5. A toy building set according to claim 1,characterized by comprising a light conductor rod whose one end isformed to be received in a hole in the first building element inalignment with the energy radiating source and energy receiving detectorof said first building element.
 6. A toy building set according to claim1 or 5 characterized by building elements provided with said mechanicalcoupling means on a first pair of opposite sides and provided on anotherside with line codes with changing reflection properties.
 7. A toybuilding set according to claim 1, characterized in that the energyradiating source and the energy receiving detector are adapted totransmit and receive coherent light, respectively.
 8. A toy building setaccording to claims 7 or 3 characterized in that said changingreflection properties are provided by elevations and depressions in asurface of the second building set element.